Resistance Train to Lose LBS
Running on a treadmill, swimming in the pool, cycling at the park, weighted squats,bicep curls, bench pressing. What do these all have in common? They're all increasing your heart rate, working your muscles, and helping you burn calories...and are all part of a healthy fitness lifestyle. The main differences in these are the fact that while performing these workouts, some of them increase your heart rate more than others. For example, swimming 100 meters in a pool will increase your heart rate a lot more than performing a couple sets of bicep curls in most cases, same as riding your bike up a steep hill compared to performing a few sets of bench press.
This means that you will be burning more calories by swimming, and biking, than you will by doing the bicep curls and bench press, right??
Not Always! Many people think cardiovascular training is for burning calories and loosing weight, and resistance training is only for building muscle and putting on lean muscle mass. Due to this popular belief many people neglect the resistance aspect of training and only do cardio for weight loss. The truth is, yes cardiovascular training is very effective in weight loss, heart health, and living a healthy lifestyle, but resistance training is as important and effective, and in some cases more effective in assisting in weight loss. How you ask? Think of it like this, you know how after a great resistance workout the next 2-3 days those muscles you worked are really sore(or if you don't know, this often happens after resistance training)? Well they are sore because you broke the muscle fibers down and had microscopic muscle tears, and your muscles are in a recovery phase, a term called DOMS(delayed onset muscle soreness). The recovery for these muscles requires extra time and energy to be used by your body.
This increases your resting metabolism rate and increases the amount of calories being burned even when you leave the gym!!
This is a simple fact that many people do not know, and is the reason why many people neglect resistance training when they work out. This is not to be said that resistance training is always better than or more effective than cardiovascular training, because everyone reacts different to different styles of training, but its now clear that the benefits of resistance training are more than just building muscle and getting "jacked". So remember this the next time your at the gym and you walk past the rack of free weights and head straight for the treadmill. Switch things up, confuse your muscles, and don't be scared to try new methods to loose weight! Call 1Team Fitness to find out first hand how resistance training can benefit you today!